The Derocque wing

The construction of the Deroque Pavilion began in March 1988 and was completed at the end of 1991. This building, which was originally called "Block 2", was already planned 30 years earlier in the 1962 master plan. It should have been built in parallel to "Block 1", which was later called Pavillon Dévé. It was to allow the expansion of the Charles Nicolle site while maintaining the activities at Bois-Guillaume and Hôtel-Dieu.

When the programming of this block 2 was finally to take shape in 1985-1986, it came up against economic difficulties, which were already a reality! with a disagreement between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance: prohibition of any new construction leading to additional costs...

How to get out of this dilemma?

In May 1986, during a visit by the Prime Minister of the time, Mr J CHIRAC, who came to Rouen for the Joan of Arc celebrations and was received at the Hôtel-Dieu by the mayor, chairman of the board of directors, Mr J LECANUET, asked for his arbitration... The mayor "thought very hard about the future of the superb buildings of the Hôtel-Dieu, where he could very well see the State's administrative services being set up...".

The financial equilibrium of the project required the transfer of the Hôtel-Dieu services to the Charles Nicolle site, thus freeing up the Hôtel-Dieu premises and allowing the regional prefecture to move into these superb premises...

As the State also found its interest in this project, the construction of "block 2" was quickly completed.

The first services arrived on 16 December 1991 and the last ones in March 1992.

The building now houses the immunology laboratory of Prof. F TRON, the digestive and urinary physiology laboratory of Prof. Ph DENIS and the bacteriology laboratory of Prof. JF LEMELAND.

The Biomedical department and the switchboard found their place in the building.

The Urology department of Prof. Ph GRISE occupied the first floor and the digestive surgery department of Prof. TENIERE came to the second floor. Coming from the Pillore Pavilion, the gastroenterology service of Prof. COLIN joined "block 2" to form a digestive department.

The cardiology and intensive care department of Prof. LE TAC and Prof. A CRIBIER was installed on the 3rd floor. On the 4th floor, the cardiac and thoracic surgery department of Prof. SOYER was established. The transfer from the Hôtel (-Dieu was done without any prejudice for the patients: 48 hours after the move, the 70th heart transplantation took place, with success!

In this pavilion, on the ground floor, the 200-seat amphitheatre bears the name of the famous surgeon from Rouen, Claude Nicolas LE CAT, and is located opposite the regional blood transfusion unit.

Despite the beauty of the Hôtel-Dieu building, the premises were old. The staff were able to find all the modern comforts in these new premises. Some of them were even able to follow a "living in Deroque" course to prepare themselves for life in this new building.

For the patients, these modern rooms, often with one bed, could remind them of the comfort of clinics.

Why did this ward change its name and why "Deroque"?

Block 1 was called Félix Dévé. A name was needed for "block 2".

The last medical services left the Hôtel-Dieu in 1992. One of the buildings along Rue Stanislas Girardin was named André Deroque, in memory of the Captain Surgeon who died in battle. This building has now disappeared but the memory of this surgeon continues to be honoured on the Charles Nicolle site.

The final departure from the Hôtel-Dieu was that of Professor Tardif's General Surgery and Traumatology Department, which moved to the Dévé Pavilion. This departure marked the end of the Hôtel-Dieu's hospital function and was made possible by the construction of the new Deroque Pavilion. The people of Rouen remember it by the horseback ride of Prof. Tardif from this location to Charles Nicolle.